wow, quick replys. and some great ideas of you guys.
the card is indeed supposed to work as a one time effect. if your artifact is stolen, its supposed to trigger and then be cleared from the permanent. otherwise, if is wasnt cleared, it would be simple to abuse it with boneall. imagine 10 damage, for every layer that is destroyed. since it guarantees no absolute protection for your artifacts, like protect artifact does, i wanted to make it cheaper (your artifact can still be destroyed or stolen, after all this card does make a bit harder, but not impossible). but the damage is pretty good, so maybe changing the cost to 2
| 2 random? (still would like to make it usable in other decks than fire).
of course it has its weakness. your enemy could hide behind a bonewall, phase shield, sundials or you simply can have no creatures on the table for several rounds, while he is able to regain hitpoints. this would be a moment, where he can take the risk to destroy or steal warded permanents. but thats perfectly fine, its not supposed to make your artifacts untouchable. there will be enough situations for shure, where the 10 damage would be too much to take.
the potential for protecting pillars seems nice, but i dont know if the game makes differences between stacked items (towers and bonewalls). i have to guess, that if a creature attacks a warded bonewall, the layer counts as destroyed. so the ward has to be cleared from the item, after its been triggered once.
problem if it was a permanent itself, your opponent could simply steal the effect. so although, it provides protection to all of your permanents, you would be dependent on protect artifact again or the card would be pretty dangerous to play, unless you can make it indestructible. but still, the idea is intriguing. maybe making it a shield could work (raising the cost to 9
or 7
, maybe even adding permanency?). because in this case, it couldnt come into conflict with bonewall.
anyway, i will start by raising the costs first.
edit.:
On that note... is there a point in giving the element that already has permanent control the ability to damage others that also have permanent control?
I think it would suit an element like Death or maybe even Light. Maybe make the Death permanent poison your opponent by XX counters each time they touched your Bone Walls, Graveyards, or what have you. For light, it makes me think of a permanent named "Consecration." Matches the effect and the name quite a bit in my view. Yet, Light has quite a few immaterial permanents.. so, maybe that's out. But, yes, you get the general idea of my idea of your idea (confusion intended).
i wanted to make it available for all elements, thats why the upgraded version didn't have a mana cost, originally.